1. Field of Technology
The preferred embodiments described herein relate to packaging of products made or derived from tobacco, or that otherwise incorporate tobacco, and are intended for human consumption. In particular, they relate to equipment and methods for packaging at least one pack of smoking articles.
2. Background of Technology
Smoking articles, such as cigarettes, conventionally have been sold in packages, usually called cigarette packs. Cigarette packs are generally rectangular parallelepiped in shape, having front and back long walls and two short side walls. Typically, each full package contains about twenty (20) cigarettes, although the packages can have various shapes and/or contain less than or more than twenty cigarettes. See, for example, U.S. Patent Publ. No. 2008/0099353 to Parsons et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. One type of popular cigarette package employs a container having the form of a so-called “soft package” or “soft pack”. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,383,728 to Little; 3,695,422 to Tripodi; 4,717,017 to Sprinkel, Jr., et al.; and 5,333,729 to Wolfe, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Another type of popular cigarette package employs a container having the form of a so-called “hard pack,” also known as “crush proof box” or “hinged lid package.” See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,874,581 to Fox et al.; 3,858,788 to Phillips; 3,944,066 to Niepmann; 4,852,734 to Allen et al.; and 5,139,140 to Burrows et al., each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Normally, both types of cigarette packs are packed in cartons, also of generally rectangular parallelepiped form, typically containing ten (10) packages.
The aforementioned types of conventional cigarette packages are designed to maintain the freshness and moisture content of the cigarettes and to protect the cigarettes from adverse environmental conditions which could degrade the freshness and quality of the cigarettes. Such conventional cigarette packages typically comprise three separate wrappings: (1) an inner foil liner comprising a metal foil laminated to a paper substrate or a metalized paper which is wrapped about the cigarettes and folded, but not sealed, at the ends of the cigarettes; (2) a “soft” or “hard” paper or paperboard package which is usually imprinted with brand specific-information; and (3) an exterior clear overwrap of a heat-sealable polymeric film which is heat sealed.
Cigarettes, or cigarette packages, have been marketed and offered with buy-one-get-one-free promotions or monetary discount promotions. For these promotions, multiple single cigarette packages are packaged together into pre-formed/pre-glued paper board sleeves. The exterior surface of the sleeve is printed with advertising for the offer, UPC codes, and other required information. These sleeved offers hold the multiple cigarette packages together until the customer, after purchase, removes the single cigarette packages and discards the sleeve.
Conventionally, the paper board sleeves, after print, are manually formed and glued. To assemble the sleeved offers, single cigarette packages are manually removed from 10-pack cartons, manually inserted into the paper sleeves, and manually returned into the carton, if possible, for shipment. Although automated cartoning machines exist for packing 10-pack cartons, it is typically not feasible to reuse previously manufactured cartons in the cartoning machine. Thus, during the re-cartoning process, either the existing carton would be discarded and not used at all for the sleeved offers, or a manual process would be required to reuse the cartons by filling it with the sleeved offers.
Current promotional sleeve production costs using manual techniques can be expensive. Thus, there remains a need for packing at least one, and preferably, multiple cigarette packages with a paper sleeved offer by means of a lower cost automated process and equipment designed for such. It is also desirable to carton the sleeved offers with an automated process and equipment.